Unnecessary Things

Each week, Vanity Fair’s fashion editors pick the best from what’s in stores, from high to low. Today, Fashion Market Director Michael Carl shares his picks. Follow Michael on Twitter at @carlscrush.

As I meandered through my apartment this weekend (which didn’t take long, considering I live in a studio), I decided that I needed to do some serious clutter control. I am certainly not one of those people who enjoys having “stuff” around—I like to live in a simple, minimal space, even if this means throwing out postcards from all around the world, love letters, expensive clothes, and, most important, tchotchkes. I took great pleasure in throwing out cords “that might come in handy,” all my logo T-shirts, my first Prada Sport shoes, and several pairs of unfortunate jeans that I purchased in the late 90s, when going to the “clubs” was still something I enjoyed. The irony is that by the time I was done with this frenzied cleansing of my apartment (and subsequently my life—one or two friends might have also been edited along with the jeans), I was able to look at it in a whole different way: what do I actually need? Besides the flying car that the nerds back in seventh grade promised me, of course. The answer was: Nothing. So this got me thinking about things I absolutely did not need but would very much like to have. This list was a lot more fun to come up with than one that included, say, a new TV and tube socks. Below are six things that I don’t need at all but would probably make my life a lot more festive.

A POSTER

I’ll bet you didn’t think that a poster would be at the top of my list, and yet here it is, a poster that says it all. This “Get Shit Done” placard was the catalyst for the apartment cleansing in the first place, and it is also my new motto. When I am procrastinating (ahem), all I have to do now is look at it. This poster is admittedly not for everyone—I think it’s great to hang (framed of course) if you work in a creative field, but if you happen to work at, oh say, Bank of America, it can certainly be your motto but might be frowned upon by your boss and colleagues (people take banking so seriously).